Junk is a print publication.

A Love Like Mine is Hard to Find

Chris Shonting interviews Jerry Hsu

April 2015

"Jerry Hsu has a lovely smile but his photography gives me anxiety. How does he see this stuff? And why is it that we can’t until he decides to show us? Essentially….WHAT THE FUCK!! It makes me crazy. Jerry’s knack for noticing the obscene, the absurd, the amazing and the beautiful is quite unreal and also a jab at us normal people. Another thing that drives me nuts is his prowess for consistently adding his trademark touched-in-the-head sensibilities to each situation. He pours the perfect Guinness every time. My therapist says I should go ahead and ask him for a position as his intern but I’m going to ask him a series of questions instead because I don’t really want to get him coffee and clean up after his pets." - Chris Shonting

Jerry what’s you’re secret? How do you happen upon the things in your photos? If there is a secret I don’t know what it is. I just live with this constant drive to make pictures… but at the same time, that passion or compulsive behavior can wane. There are periods where I barely shoot at all. I think I find these moments because I really want to. I want these pictures, so I go after them.

Are you shooting all day? Do you always have a camera on you? Do you get nervous when you don’t have a camera? If I don’t have a camera with me I feel a constant anxiety. Because so much of what I photograph are situations I’m unable to control; it’s very easy for things to slip away forever. What’s funny about that is those moments I’ve missed are burned into my mind, kind of like a photograph just for me to agonize over. I can’t hold it or show it, it’s just in this section of my brain I visit to torture myself.

Do these solo art shows scare you? Yes, I’m shy. To not be a little scared would be strange right? But I’m just really grateful to be given these types of opportunities more than being afraid. You can’t live being oppressed by what you fear others will think.

Describe your photography in layman's terms. This question always sucks. Sometimes you have to laugh in order not to cry.